2024 Year in Review for Selma-Dallas County

If the word of the year for Selma and Dallas County in 2023 was “recovery,” the word for 2024 was “leadership.” 

Many of the area’s institutions dealt with leadership issues. Both the Selma City and Dallas County school systems are looking for new superintendents after Selma Superintendent Dr. Zickeyous Byrd retired in the fall and Dallas County Superintendent Anthony Sampson announced he is leaving at the end of the school year. 

Selma Police Chief Kenta Fulford was suspended by Mayor James Perkins Jr. in 2024. Again. And the Selma City Council put Fulford back into his job. Again. Perkins and the city council argued over leadership of the Selma Fire Department as the city council named Coley Byrd as the interim chief, replacing Perkins’ choice, Franklin Edwards. 

Perkins and the city council argued throughout the year over who has the power to lead the city of Selma. Perkins accused the city council of “overreach” on issues ranging from the budget to litter control. 

Dallas County voters selected leaders for county government, while Selma voters have an extra year of the current administration and will vote in 2025.

The city mourned the loss of a leader of the Morgan Academy football team, and cheered for a young Selma man who became a leader in the entertainment world when he won the national talent competition television show “The Voice.” 

Here’s a rundown of the events of 2024.

Cameras, gaming and garbage

For the city of Selma, it was a year of cameras, gaming and garbage as the city’s leaders found that despite their efforts, there was no relief in sight for the city’s groaning budget. 

The long-awaited citywide surveillance system became operational in late 2024, but not without heated arguments between the Selma City Council and Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. 

City Council President Billy Young signed a contract with local vendor Selcom in June. He signed the contract because Perkins refused to do so, citing issues with the Selcom system. The city council and Perkins, who said he preferred a system from Alabama Power Co., had wrangled over the camera system for more than a year. 

Selma saw gambling parlors spring up around town in 2024 until law enforcement raided and served search warrants on five gambling facilities. The parlors have remained shuttered, although new ones have popped up and prompted more raids in December. The raids that started in August ended months of speculation about how far state and local law enforcement would go to address the issue. 

Garbage was an ongoing issue in 2024. The city is now served by a private garbage contractor. Perkins proposed having the city provide garbage service as an entrée to raising property taxes. The mayor has said that the city needs more revenue to balance the budget, and providing garbage pickup as a city service would be a “wash” for many low-income residents if property taxes increased. 

Clay Carmichael, chairman of the Public Works Committee, disagreed, saying Perkins’ proposal did not account for all the costs associated with providing city garbage service. Either way, the council has taken no action on the proposal to provide garbage service or to hold a referendum to raise property taxes. 

The council has also taken no action on a proposal from Perkins to reduce the number of council districts from eight to five and eliminate the elected position of city council president. Young told Perkins this fall that no one on the council has expressed interest in pursuing redistricting before the 2025 city council vote. 

The city election in Selma and many other municipalities in the state was pushed back a year so that the elections would not be held in the same year as the presidential election. That added an extra year to the terms of the mayor and city council. 

Whoever takes office in 2025 will inherit a troubled budget. City leaders have had to take money from reserves to balance the budget, including $2,750,000 in 2024. City leaders had hoped they could get some relief by refinancing a loan payment that had ballooned to $2 million.

City leaders worked hard to position the city for the refinancing, including completing three audits in two years and restoring the city’s credit rating, which the city lost during the Darrio Melton administration.

Despite their efforts, investment banker and Selma native Bob Young told city leaders in August that refinancing was not an option. Young said the city has four choices: “One, raise revenue. Two, reduce expenses. Three, a combination of the two. Four is do nothing. Four is out of the question” because cash reserves will eventually run out. 

Public safety leadership

Both of Selma’s public safety agencies dealt with leadership issues in 2024. Perkins suspended Police Chief Kenta Fulford April 30 because he said the chief was not responsive enough to safety at the city’s schools, along with other issues. The suspension came after a weekend of violence that left two Selma High School students shot, which resulted in the school going to virtual-only classes for two days. 

The city council unanimously restored Fulford to his job in June. 

This was the second time Perkins suspended Fulford only to see his suspension overturned by the council. Perkins placed the chief on leave in 2023 because Fulford didn’t immediately return from an out-of-town meeting the day the tornado struck Selma in January 2023. In that instance, the City Council voted in a narrow vote to restore Fulford to his job. 

Leadership issues also heated up at the Selma Fire Department. The Selma City Council named Coley Byrd, a fire investigator with more than 20 years of service with the Selma Fire Department, as the department’s new interim chief in June. The position of interim fire chief had been filled by Franklin Edwards, who was appointed by Perkins in May 2022 after Fire Chief Willie Mason Jr. resigned after serving less than three months.

Perkins and some city council members were upset about Edwards being replaced. Nothing has been publicly said since Edwards was arrested by the Alabama State Fire Marshall’s office in July and charged with first degree theft of property. 

Another ongoing issue at city hall involves litter control. The city council voted to hire four employees who would work with the Dallas County Commission to find and clean up illegal dumps. The Alabama Department of Environmental Management only contracts with counties on litter cleanup, and Carmichael hoped by throwing in with the county the city could get in on some of the grants the county is receiving. 

The Dallas County Commission pulled out of the arrangement after Perkins said he was opposed to the idea, saying that the money the city would spend with the joint litter task force would be better spent by hiring more workers for the city’s public works department. 

Carmichael has said that he wants to work with Perkins on a compromise. 

The city put five new knuckle boom trucks on the street in December to pick up piles of litter and debris. 

School leadership

Both Selma City Schools and Dallas County Schools will be looking for new superintendents in 2025. 

Selma City Schools Superintendent Dr. Zickeyous Byrd retired Sept. 30 after serving for two years. Dallas County Superintendent Anthony Sampson announced in December that he will not renew his contract and will leave on June 30. 

Sampson said he made the decision to leave after not getting enough support from the board. He has had challenges with the board throughout his tenure, including a month-long suspension in April over communication issues with staff. 

“We achieved what we can in this relationship … it was time to move on,” Sampson said. 

Both school systems saw improvements under the leadership of their superintendents. Selma City Schools reported a 25-percentage-point improvement in third-grade reading scores, which only 12 districts in the state accomplished. Selma had a rate of 59% of third graders reading at grade level in 2022 and pushed that up to 84% in 2023. 

The district put in place a strategy to reduce absenteeism and saw a 10-percentage-point improvement. 

As for Dallas County, the district made a six-point gain in the Alabama State Report Card, moving their ranking from 136^th out of 145 districts in the state to 118^th. 

Safety is a concern at schools, especially Selma City Schools. The district got a $350,000 grant in April from the Alabama Department of Education to hire and equip three school resource officers. 

Selma City Schools broke ground on the new School of Discovery, the first new construction of a school in a decade, in February. The middle school will be a performing arts magnet academy.

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Several businesses came and went in Selma and Dallas County, including two who came back after the January 2023 tornado. 

Lannie’s Bar-B-Que, which was heavily damaged in the tornado, reopened in June and held a celebration in early December. The new facility seats twice as many customers as the original. And the storm-ravaged Firestone store on Broad Street reopened in June. 

Dave’s Market opened its new, improved location in Valley Grande in October, and the Walton Theater reopened in July after being closed for months for repairs. A Pleasant Hill couple opened an Emporium early in the year. Selma Roots opened a new thrift store in the former Sears Home Store location in July. 

Reflections Coffee Shoppe on Water Avenue, a sister facility to the Coffee Shoppe on Broad Street, opened in March. Jackie Smith, owner of both businesses, received the 2024 Phoenix Award from the Small Business Administration.

Two well-known funeral businesses in Dallas County merged in November. Lawrence Brown-Service Funeral Home acquired Selma Funeral Home and Pineview Memorial Gardens in Valley Grande, and the office is being moved to Lawrence’s headquarters on Citizens Parkway.

Bistro Manila in downtown Selma opened in February but bowed out in October. Peerless Pump left Selma in May citing difficulty “securing skilled talent.”

Development 

Improvements were made throughout the area in 2024. 

The first of what Selma officials hope will be many homes for first-time buyers was lowered onto its foundation on Washington Street in January. City officials hope 28 modular homes that are part of the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America will populate the neighborhood. 

In March, Selma’s Long-Term Recovery Group turned over the keys to four new homes to owners whose homes were destroyed in 2023 tornado. 

The bank of the Alabama River in downtown Selma behind the Riverfront Amphitheater was stabilized by the Army Corps of Engineers in 2024 as one step toward a $38 million multiplex along Water Avenue. The city hopes the project will serve as a catalyst for revitalization in the Riverfront Development Area.

The city of Selma also opened a $600,000 dock and pavilion at the city marina. 

Healthcare

The area’s healthcare system saw some improvements in 2024. 

Vaughan Regional Medical Center opened a Kidney Care Center on Highland Avenue in April, and it opened Vaughan Primary Health Solutions clinic on Medical Parkway. The hospital also welcomed a new orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Jason D. Cobb. 

In nearby Demopolis, the state is working to open a residential healthcare high school that officials hope will help supply nurses and other healthcare professionals to Alabama’s hospitals and clinics, especially those in rural areas. 

Bridge Crossing Jubilee 

Vice President Kamala Harris, who ended up being the Democratic nominee for President, was the featured speaker at the Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee in March. This was Harris’ second visit to Selma for the Jubilee commemoration in three years. She also spoke in 2022. President Joe Biden was the lead speaker at the 2023 Jubilee. Eleven members of congress attended as well.

Elections

In the general election in November, Dallas County citizens voted for federal and state offices as well as local offices, including the county commission. Vivian Rogers beat Ronald Kenan Sawyer by a close margin to continue to serve in District 2. The District 4 Dallas County seat has a new commissioner, William Lumpkin, who beat competitor Barry Lorenzo Allen with 65% of the vote. This seat was held by Jan Justice, who didn’t run for re-election.

Dallas County Commission District 1 winner was Connel “Big Daddy” Towns Sr., who ran unopposed, and Curtis Williams in District 3, who also had no contender.

Mamie Williams Solomon kept her Dallas County School Board seat in District 3 with no opposition. Other unopposed positions that were affirmed were Dallas County Circuit Court Judge Collins Pettaway Jr., Circuit Clerk Lynnethia Robinson Bennett and Dallas County Probate Judge Jimmy Nunn. School board member Melvin Flanagan-Brown won her seat as a write-in candidate.

Grants and gifts

Grants and gifts from the federal government and donors helped several area institutions. 

Almost 60 blocks in downtown Selma will be paved thanks to a $2 million grant from the Delta Regional Authority. 

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell presented a check for $750,000 from the National Park Service to preserve Pollard Hall at Selma University in February. The funding is part of a $9.7 million initiative for the preservation of structures at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. 

Tabernacle Baptist Church on Broad Street received a $750,000 check for repairs to the 101-year-old church that has served as a civil rights gathering spot. It came from the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Fund to preserve Civil Rights sites.

Brown Chapel AME received an anonymous $250,000 donation for restoration. 

Dignitaries came to Selma in February to celebrate a $45 million plan to bring fiber broadband infrastructure to 53,000 homes and businesses in Selma, Demopolis and 15 other towns in the Black Belt by mid-2027. The broadband network, which will be paid for by Yellowhammer Networks, will pass at least 85% of homes and businesses in Selma.

The Vaughan-Smitherman Museum used part of a $10,000 donation from Rent A Center to create a new exhibit in the room now called The Gallery Room. The exhibit features photographs of the attack on marchers on Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965. 

It was a good year for the Black Belt Community Foundation. The organization celebrated its 20^th anniversary in May, and it finished the year as a finalist for the Philanthropic Project of the Year Award from Business Alabama. 

The Selma Redevelopment Authority became a Main Street Designated Community City, and the organization announced it is seeking to hire a part-time executive director. 

Leadership starts young. That’s why the Selma Rotary Club helped restart the Interact Club at Morgan Academy in 2024. It has been about 10 years since the Rotary Club of Selma has had an active Interact Club at Morgan Academy.

Ecstasy and the agony

We’ll close out the year in review with two stories that symbolize the ecstasy and agony of life told through two young Selmians. 

Asher HaVon won the nationally televised talent competition “The Voice” in May. HaVon returned to Selma in the summer, where he led a parade down Broad Street, received the key to the city and performed a free concert at the amphitheater. 

Several families mourned the loss of a child in 2024, including the Tellier family. In September, hundreds from across the Black Belt filled two churches for the funeral service of Morgan Academy football player Caden Tellier, who died after a head injury bleed after being tackled at the Morgan vs Southern Academy game on his home field during the opening game in August.

Tellier was honored as a good student, son, athlete and Christian. His impact on others drew a crowd that included football players and friends from neighboring schools, including Southern, Wilcox and Lowndes academies. 

The Selma community also mourned the death of Selma High sophomore Au’Terrious Walter, who died the same weekend as Tellier of a gunshot wound to the head. His loss prompted law enforcement to discuss tougher gun laws and ways to tackle teen crime.